stock

Posted in Run Da House, zero waste home by ElaineMarie

i’ve been making my own vegetable stock as part of my zero waste efforts. we eat a lot of soup in the winter months and i’ve cut down on a lot of cardboard veggie stock cartons. we also eat a lot of salad and fresh veggies so i just keep this pot in the fridge and any peelings or stems get tossed in here until the next boiling. soups have been extra yummy thanks to the freshness factor. veggie peelings then get dumped in the compost after boiling is done. it makes me feel so savvy and smart to get three different uses from our food stuffs.

25Jan2013

senses

Posted in let me let me update ya, Run Da House, yum yum eat good by ElaineMarie

playing along again with Mary Catherine’s photo exercise. my senses were very pleased this week. i have doubles of a couple categories:

^^^touch^^^

1} that weird way plastic gloves feel really good and really gross at the same time. and the correlating feeling of accomplishment when the dishes are done and the stink sink has been scrubbed. 2} the feeling of laying down in bed for the night and just staring up at the ceiling. ahhhh.

^^^taste^^^

1} thursday was darla’s turn to bring snack at school. we made something especially scrumptious since it was her birthday treat. my trick is: if you like your cookies to be a little moist and soft in the center always bake them in a muffin pan. they turn out thick and moist. ughhh, just typed the word moist twice. a third time! dislike! dislike! 2} my daughter has a more refined taste palette than i. this is her portobello, spinach and goat cheese omelette – on a plate that i made in 1988 as the plate specifically states. i have to admit, the leftovers she didn’t finish were delicious.

^^^sight^^^

the sight of darla reading poetry books on a sunny afternoon. so she told me they were spell books but whatever. in a way, she’s right. bewitch her with your words, mr. whitman.

^^^sound^^^

1} hubster’s music collection. if you’re a regular reader you know we’ve been having lots of dance parties lately thanks to a mirror ball addition to our living room. it’s hard for me to determine if i like the daytime, sunlit parties or the nighttime, disco shine parties better. eff it. they’re both my favorite. 2} our new organ. darla has been happily playing away daily on the newest furniture addition to our already crowded house. i have to admit that i wasn’t too happy when this showed up – since i wasn’t consulted – but i had to let it go and accept that everything can’t be my way. darla loves it and that’s all that matters. besides, i wouldn’t want to deny the world it’s next papa garth because of my silly ideas of room flow.

^^^smell^^^

the smell of the cookies baking was a savior. see, i’ve been making a lot of meals with various beans and legumes lately and this house has been in need of some aromatherapy, if you catch my drift. pun! flatulence pun!

that’s all i got. thanks for checking in to see how my senses did this week. and now for a special announcement: i’m sending you lots of positive energy for a fulfilling and restful weekend. be excellent. all of you.

19Jan2013

senses

Posted in i dig music, let me let me update ya, Run Da House, yum yum eat good, zero waste home by ElaineMarie

i am playing along with the weekly senses photo feature from Mary Catherine’s blog this week.

i am a dreamer. i think big and dream bigger. the problem with this is that i find myself not being satisfied in whatever moment i’m in. i’m living in the future or the past too much. i feel that focusing on this photo exercise put some perspective in my day: if i’m experiencing something nice pertaining to all 5 of my senses in one day then i’m doing alright. i have it pretty good no matter what my ambitions are telling me. I was able to find all these little gratitudes in a span of about 60 minutes:

^^^smell^^^

i’ve been making more of an effort to thoroughly use our fruits and veggies before tossing in the compost. the smell of grapefruit after scrubbing the sink with the leftover peel and the smell of fresh veggie stock helped me connect to our blessings in the nourishment department. (yeah, the pot boiled over. so much for the morning stove wipedown.)

^^^taste^^^

darla and i have a little ritual of scooping out the cream from the top of our freshly opened milk jugs. we get them every other week so it’s a treat to each have a spoonful once in a while. the taste of this week’s spoonful helped me connect to this small part of our life that i hope darla will remember when she is older. just she and her mama sharing fresh cream and feeling it’s a treat every single time.

^^^touch^^^

a touch of warmth is back in the sunshine. so that means it is real sunshine now. the kind that you can feel warm your skin. you can see my pasty white skin drinking in the vitamin d. the feeling of warmth connected me to the promise of springtime and brighter days to come.

^^^sight^^^

the fiendish look of accomplishment my girl makes when she’s sneaked a treat. it’s impossible for me to be irked by her cookiesnatching ways. the sight of this smile makes me grateful time and again.

^^^sounds^^^

this one was a given. mike won tickets to Father John Misty & The Walkmen this week. it has been quite a drought since my last concert so i was feeling very thankful to get back to some live music. also, i am grateful to have a husband that has calling in to radio stations to win tickets down to a science. i missed most of father john misty due to a birthworkers meeting but made it just in time for 2 of my favorite songs so it was ok. have a listen to my fave above.

that’s all friends. hope you continue to have a grand weekend!!!! xoxoxoxo

15Jan2013

weekending

Posted in familyness, let me let me update ya, Run Da House, yum yum eat good by ElaineMarie

other than seeing A Birth Story, my weekend was pretty much contained in my household. i am fine with this because it grossly rained all weekend. i did attend another kickbutt boot camp that has left me sore even today. this is good. sore is the new sexy. pinterest told me that. a few projects from the weekend:

1. a food color and coffee filter bunting project hubster and darla came up with 2. more water infusions. i’ve been experimenting and so far i like cucumber and watermelon the best. wonderfully delicious 3. bread baking attempts. it’s taken me a year to make good on my bread baking resolution but i’m getting in the swing of it. my yeast creations { yes, i just said that } need help, though. anyone have any good recipes? 4. a little project i’m working on for an upcoming weekend.

yeah, that’s pretty much it other than lots of pretending to be harry potter and dance parties.

thanks for catching up with us.

12Jan2013

tribal

Posted in Run Da House by ElaineMarie

i’ve come to be at peace with the fact that i can’t be social and have on orderly, clean house at the same time. if i spend time running about meeting and making friends i often come home to a house in chaos which then impedes my ability to think in a linear fashion while nestled in said messy abode.

if i stay home and clean, organize, purge and spiff i’m left very satisfied at the end of the day but feel lonely and cooped up.

i read an article recently about building your tribe. the difference between a tribe and a friend circle is that a tribe accomplishes things together. be it community parenting or tackling projects or say…raising barns. i’m really interested in building my tribe here. i am lucky enough to have a small number of people who are MY PEOPLE. i will not let them go.

oh no.

but i’d like to broaden those horizons. i’d like to engage friends in my projects and dreams. i’d like to be engaged in theirs. i’m going to work on making myself more open and available for lending a hand this year.

you know this is just a fancy warning to you columbus folk that i’m going to be calling you to help me clean my house, right? because it is. but think about it.

let me know if you want to get tribal.

30Dec2012

2012 waste reduction

Posted in Run Da House, zero waste home by ElaineMarie

People,

this is the time of year when everyone sends out their “best of 2012” lists. last year I reposted lots of my fave photos from the year. this year i want to do something different.

i just watched GasLand and now have a fire re-kindled in my heart to further our waste reduction efforts in the coming year. I know what it feels like to be a mother with all her resources tapped and dwindling. I feel I strongly want to examine ways I can reduce my consumption and maybe even replenish dear old Momma Earth.

I wanted to take a look back at some of the implementations from 2012 that has taken us down to less than one bag of trash a week:

bulk grocery shopping and moving towards a mostly produce based grocery list. not a lot of chips or crackers brought into this house anymore.

started using a compost bin.

clothesline drying laundry in the warm months.

Bikes were our main source of transportation May-October. Mike is still riding his everyday.

Well, that completes the list of new things for the year. I’m always looking for ways to become more eco-friendly so if anyone has a tip let me know.

5Dec2012

lightz

Posted in Run Da House by ElaineMarie

awww, cordelia, you look so pretty in your holiday getup!

4Dec2012

i’m dreaming of a green christmas

Posted in Run Da House by ElaineMarie

whoa, life just got REAL busy, huh?

i’m feeling it. i know you’re feeling it, too. i keep reminding myself: “don’t just get stuff done, get the right stuff done.”

but anyway,

i was starting to let myself get sucked into the consumerism culture that is christmas this past weekend. my mind was dwelling on hypothetical presents darla should get so she doesn’t feel deprived when she is older. guffaw.

well, the universe knew what to do with me and put this book in my path. literally in my path when we spent monday at the library. i was reminded that christmas eve and day are the two most waste producing days of the year around the world. it brought me back to center.

my child does not need an abundance of toys or candy. she just needs a few carefully selected gifts and a whole lot of love.

i wrote a bit last year about our homemade decorations projects – our snowflakes from coffee filters and junk mail, our popcorn garlands, handmade wrapping paper from re-purposed darla art. I think we’ll carry on those traditions this year and add a few more. I came up with an advent calendar from some reused wrapping paper.

what about you? have you thought of ways to reduce your waste output this christmas? what tricks have you come up with?

2Dec2012

Advent-ageous

Posted in familyness, let me let me update ya, Run Da House by ElaineMarie

hope you enjoyed the first day of december. hubster pulled the tree out late friday night and we finally set about chrissmafying the house. good times.

here’s just a bit of silly from our week: